Bernie, so good to hear that you are up and about. Thank you for sharing your experiences. It is a great encouragement for all of us.Take Care and God Bless.
Danny Seng
Bernie Baymiller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
ST'ers all,
Thanks for all for your thoughts, prayers and good wishes. This has been
hard to believe, but I'll tell you about it for the sake of others who might
have the same problems. Kidney transplant technology is simply amazing to me
now. I'm home after receiving a kidney 4 days ago.
My kidneys have been failing for the last two years...actually since 1983.
Nobody could ever tell me why. I dragged it out pretty well by diet control,
but haven't had the strength to walk the course for about a year and a half.
When my creatinine went over 4, walking up hills was all over. Eventually, I
had to start dialysis, which cleans up your muscles overnight, but can't
clean them up when you are exercising, so you tire very quickly. For the
last five months or more I've been on peritoneal dialysis at home. It's a
computer driven machine that sits beside ! your bed and fills you up with
exchange fluid (a sugar solution), 4 cycles a night...like being tied to an
8 foot plastic tube leash for 6 hours. Lost about 20 yards on my drives and
10 on my irons, but could play and feel OK for about 15 holes riding a cart.
Best round suddenly became 77s-78s instead of 73-75s. Averaging 82 for the
last month.
A year and a half ago, when my creatinine went over 6, I went on the Kidney
Transplant list. My wife and brother tried to be a donor, but were rejected
because of marginal risk. I figured I had to wait about two years for a
cadaver kidney...the average wait in our area of the country. About a month
ago, the transplant office at UT Hospital called me and asked me to schedule
a stress test to stay on the list...something required every year. So, I
scheduled it for last Thursday at 8:45 AM. Instructions said to stop all
food and drink before midnight the night before. Hooked up my dialysis
m! achine at 9 PM as usual, watched some TV and drifted off to sleep. Abo ut
2:30 AM the phone rang and the transplant office told me to get right down
there for a blood test...they might have a kidney for me. I turned off the
cycler, went in and gave them the blood, went home and finished up my
dialysis. Got up and went in for my stress test. About half way through it,
the Transplant nurse comes in and says go right to admitting...you have a
kidney. Figure the odds of that...no food or drink before the one day I have
to have a surprise operation. So I was totally ready.
I'm sitting in the pre-op room and the doc comes through and says it was a
blue-light special night for kidneys...they got 3 that night from
Nashville...I was number 600 for the hospital and 39th this year. He asked
if I would like to meet my kidney, told me it was a 57 year-old man and held
up the cardboard box with the iced kidney and kept going. With three
surgeries...about 3 hours apiece...the nurses were going crazy. I was number
! two, but two trauma cases (mower accident next to me) held two of us up. I
was supposed to be in surgery at 5 PM, but didn't get in until at least 8
PM. Was out of the recovery room at 3 AM Friday morning. The doc says I
really got a good kidney...80 good cells to one bad one...and unexpectedly,
even after being iced for 28 hours, it kicked right in. I had 4100 ml of
urine production the first night and my legs felt great. Instructions are to
WALK, WALK, WALK!...just what I wanted to hear. I did. Midget steps the
first day Friday, but about a mile around the corridors on the 12th floor
with a fantastic view of UT, Knoxville and the Tennessee River. Saturday I
did about two miles and today two miles at a good clip...under 30 minutes.
(That slowed me down the rest of the day). When I went into surgery, my
creatinine was 8.6. This morning, four days later, it was 1.5...a tenth from
normal! It's unbelievable how good my legs feel again...the ! deadness is all
gone, though they tire from lack of practice. Other good instructions are:
no digging, no yard work, no lifting...just in time for leaf and garden
prep season. :-) I'm very immuno-suppressed for awhile, so can't shop or go
to grocery stores, either. My challenge will be to adjust medications in the
coming two months, the principal period of organ rejection.
It's like coming from a slow death to a rebirth. You can't imagine the
psychological lift I got. A senior friend even brought me a box of Titleist
Pro V-1s, compliments of my Friday group. Today, I got to eat chili and
beans for the first time in almost 20 years. If I ever had any doubts about
the value of friends and family, they are gone completely.
God bless you all and please sign your donor cards just in case. It's a
miracle waiting to happen.
Bernie
Writeto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: "Herb Wellman, Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, N! ovember 15, 2002 11:52 PM
Subject: Re: ShopTalk: Kidney transplant
> That's two people I know who've received Kidney's this year. I hope
> everyone is carrying a donor card. Best of luck, Bernie. Will keep you
> in my prayers and I'm looking forward to more long driver information.
>
> Herb Wellman, BackNine Custom clubs
>
>
>
>
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